Yellow Cows sightings

Just came back from a trip up North. Estella, Vijay and I took a trip to Kuala Terengganu to recce Pulau Lang Tengah for a marine conservation project. We left Cheras around 5pm as Tom had to finish the proposal to give to Mr Lee, and there was a massive jam from Cheras to the Karak Highway due to some road repairs, a few minor car accidents, and lots of gawking motorists. But once we hit the highway to Genting, it was caaruuuiisssse control. We stopped in Termeloh for dinner and Vijay and I sat on bird poo. The God of Aviation must have been smiling down upon us. Termeloh is such a sleepy town. Sort of like the one main road with the town built around it concept but I'm sure there must be some alleys around as well. Haha. After Termeloh, the Yellow Cows started appearing. *grin* The Yellow Cows are road signs cut out in the actual shape (tail, horns and all) of a life-size cow with the caution "AWAS! LEMBU MELINTAS" (CAUTION! COW CROSSING!) stamped in bold on the poor thing's 'hide'. Haha. I thought it was funny. "So that's what a cow looks like!" (Smacks forehead)

Mars Colony in Malaysia
Then later on after Kerteh, we came upon a surreal sight - the Paka Oil Refineries. The steel buildings were lighted up so brightly but separately stand-alone 1000watts lightbulbs for each section that it really looked like a Mars colony or some sort. Way cool. And there were towers with flaming tips where excess gas are burned off instead of harmfully releasing it into the atmosphere. And the area was HUGE. Took us like 10 minutes to drive pass the entire stretch.

We reached Seri Malaysia Marang (Terengannu) around 2am in the morning and checked ourselves in with RM80 (plus breakkie for two but there had breakkie for three and never paid for the extra person!) So tired but we still had to plan what we were gonna do tomororow, what we are going to say, how we are going to say it. Hah, little did we know what a steamroller Mr Lee could be.

We arrived at Mr Lee's office expecting the talk to last half and hour. But talks, discussion, lunch and tea went by and it was 4pm - much too late to catch the 10am boat to the island. We got some information and agreement from Mr Lee about some aspects of our project and then

Hotel California
We headed for Cherating at 6pm after perusing some gorgeous shells at a shell shop. We went in there just to check out stuff, not buy them. We came out 1 hour plus later with much lighters purses and wallet. Vijay accused us of being catalysts, haha.. he bought some shell jewelry as well! Stayed overnight at Cherating Cottages, a pretty much run down place. When we checked in, we were told that the stardard room were fully occupied so we had to take the family room. In the light of the day, we realised that they only had two standard rooms available, both taken, and the rest were empty as it was too run down to rent out! Aiyoh. Oh and we also checked out this place called Coconut Inn, (Marijuana Inn as Estella calls it) and it was such a hippie place. The chalets were shacks next to the jungle/swamp, with loud colours painted on the outside walls; there were glass balls hanging in macrame nets everywhere, and then there were paintings and drawings of people in weird poses and angles, doing what we can only speculate and there were pencil drawings of animals with saucer-sized eyes - reminded me of the Tinderbox dogs - hanging right in front of the bed on the opposite wall. Imagine waking up to red rimmed eyes glaring balefully at you at first light. *shudder*

Sun, sea and surf, perfect for tanning
The next day dawn bright and wonderful. Put on our beach gear and headed for the beckoning surf. Not that it was much of a surf, hardly can be considered proper waves, half hearted as they were, but the beach was good - there were not many people around, so I managed to bake/sun myself the under a hot blistering sun for a while to get a tan. Vijay commented that I should have a timer beside me so that I can time myself to turn over every 5 minutes. *sizzle... Yelp!* After that, we took a walk to the rivermouth and it was low tide and the riverbed was exposed. It was interesting how the ore are all drawn upwards on the crest of the miniature sand dunes - must be the moon's strong magnetic pull. It was a good and calming time for me here. We headed back after an hour as we had to reach KL before night.

We also made a stop-over at Lentang, the place where that girl fell and is still missing after two weeks plus. The forest reserve has been treaded by too many feets with plastic carrying hands. It was terrible. Not worth the effort to camp there. Yuck.


Clearing my head and heart
I needed this distraction. I felt like I was going through a severe depression and I was heartsick. I guess that explains the lost of appetite, the nausea and pain in the chest region the past two weeks. On Friday evening, I really felt that I was going to go crazy from being where I was and keeping it all inside me. I decided last minute to go to KT with Vijay and Estella as I knew that I really needed think through what I'm feeling rationally. I was listening to Dido's White Flag the whole night for a week prior to this.

So this trip was really good for me - it helped me clear my mind and get things into perspective. I've made my decision and I will stick to it, as there is no other way. Either I back off from the cliff, or I jump right off the cliff. I will not jump... Jumping is not an option as it will be an emotional mine fill. I wonder how long my resolve will last? I cannot believe I've actually gone and done it - fallen for somebody unavailable.